learning in nuosu communities: yangjuan village tami blumenfield professor harrell presented to...
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Learning in Nuosu Communities: Yangjuan Village
Tami Blumenfield
Professor Harrell
Presented to Anthropology 470:
Minority Peoples of China
University of Washington
March 3, 2009
Looking more closely at the Four Forms of Learning: Intersections in Yangjuan
• ‘Traditional’ village-based learning• Religious education• School education• Research, philanthropy, and migration
Liangshan and the Nuosu凉山与凉山彝族
Nuosu Quick Facts:• 2,000,000 population• Of 7.5m Yi 彝• Tibeto-Burman language
Baiwu Township, Yanyuan County, Liangshan Prefecture
Yangjuan, Pianshui, Gangou, Zhuchang Villages
Sichuan Province
Yangjuan & Pianshui
Four villages (divided into production brigades); 208 households total
‘Traditional’ village-based learning
• Farming and family• Photos by Laura Stahl
Work as play, play as work?
Photos by Laura Stahl
Building the Yangjuan Primary School
• An effort to bring education to a rural area underserved by schools
• Founded in 2000• ~300 students, nearly all Nuosu• Min ban gong zhu
Yangjuan Primary School
Grades K-6 First graduating class, June 20058 Classrooms
Principal: Sha Kaiyuan Seven Permanent TeachersSix Temporary Teachers
Benefits and consequences of building the Yangjuan Primary School
• Increased school attendance• High quality education available locally; students need not
leave their home (culture) for education• To continue their education, students must leave their
homes• Supplemental education opportunities• Increased exposure to strange foreignersBotanical illustration, taught Summer 04 by UW undergraduate Rachel Meyer and Taiwan student
Environmental education initiatives
Botanical Illustration
Ethnoentomology
Locally relevant curricular content
• Music • Art• Writing exercises
Art projects using local materials
Writing exercises
Locally relevant curricular content
Cool Mountain Education Fund
• Established in 2005 as 501(c)3• Three purposes:
– to support education at the primary school
– to fund scholarships for post-primary education
– to develop educational enrichment opportunities at the school
Operating and supporting a school
Cool Mountain Education FundCurrent Projects
• Scholarships for graduates of Yangjuan Primary School• Workshops for teachers
Teacher Training
Objectives:1. To lead teachers
in exploring how local knowledge could be incorporated into their teaching
2. To model innovative, student-centered teaching methods appropriate to the New Curricula
(新课程)
Teacher Training: Community Investigation
Sharing traditional games
Digital picture slideshow
Teacher Training: Resource Bank
Effects of the Yangjuan Primary School
How does the school affect power relations and social relations generally?
Students of the Prefectural Middle School In Xichang
Mgebbumo
Mgebbu Affine
Mgebbu AffineNote: Actually no
bias toward Mgebbu in test scores or scholarships.
These young women from Yangjuan are working as hotel attendants. Other former students were recruited to work in a Shanghai factory. How does the new school affect employment aspirations?
Does primary education suffice for kids, or do they need more schooling to reap ‘rewards’? What are these rewards, and how do different people define them?
Schooling and Migration
Seeking schooling
Chickens for Living Expenses
Seeking Schooling
Going to Middle School: Family Portrait.
Now a factory worker inShanghai
Teachers
NGO worker; research assistant
Store wall in Baiwu
“At all levels of Government the most important responsibility is the successful
implementation of education.”
Thank you!
Questions or comments?
Email [email protected]
Interested in joining the Cool Mountain Club at the University of Washington?
Email [email protected]
Community members are welcome.